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[GUIDE] Mordekaiser - Smooth Up In Ya

This is my first guide ever. If I have left anything out, simply let me know and I will try to fill in any gaps in tactics/strategy. I do not claim to be an amazing LoL player, and I'm certainly not High ELO, but I'm consistently pitted against lvl 25-30s with 3-6x as many wins as me, so I assume I do fairly well. That said, I wrote this guide because ever since I purchased the Mordekaiser package yesterday morning and started playing with him, I haven't lost a single game with my initial theory-crafted build.

Several of my recent opponents have asked me about my playstyle and runes and I figured my initial test run was successful enough that it deserved a guide. Everyone out there seems to want to gear Mordekaiser as if he were Nasus or Poppy or some kind of hybrid, I personally think he rivals the survivability of any other tank out there. A friend I queue with who has been doing very well with Alistar recently, has been amazed at how much punishment I take as the Metal Lord.

For those of you who have faced me in-game, my character handle is Khranz

I have plans to test a CDR/AD build and a CDR/AP build, but I've had so much success as MordeTank that I'm reluctant to try anything new just yet.

Anyway, onto the guide, and if you decide to give it a try, GL and HF!

Pros / ConsPros:
You will be hard to kill no matter how early or late the game.
You will strike fear into the hearts of your enemies.
You will be focus fired, which is what you want.
You will have fun playing Mordekaiser despite everyone *****ing about his AP ratios.

Cons:
You do not hit as hard as Poppy, Nasus, Gangplank or a dedicated Robo-Fisting Blitzcrank
Your damage will cap out early.
Your escape mechanisms are limited to Summoner abilities.

All right first things first. If you want to rock with Mordekaiser, the first thing you need to do is understand Mordekaiser. You need to know what it is to be an Avatar of Metal. A true rock god will mount the stage and make brutal, aurical love to your auditory canals until your ears BLEED. A true rock god's voice reaches over 9000dB and can hold a note for EONS.

What a rock god DOESN'T do is blow his ****ing load on the first song and leave you wanting more. You'll understand how this applies to Mordekaiser as we continue on in the guide.

Greater Mark of Insight (http://www.leaguecraft.com/rune/Greater%20Mark%20of%20Insight) x9 ALL of Mordekaiser's abilities deal magic damage. This will increase damage across the board.Greater Seal of Defense (http://www.leaguecraft.com/rune/Greater%20Seal%20of%20Defense) x9 So Mordekaiser can wail all night on DPSers.Greater Glyph of Shielding (http://www.leaguecraft.com/rune/Greater%20Glyph%20of%20Shielding)x9 So Mordekaiser can wail all night on AP stackers.Greater Quintessence of Celerity (http://www.leaguecraft.com/rune/Greater%20Quintessence%20of%20Celerity)x3 So Mordekaiser can wail without stopping. *throws up the horns*

Masteries: I'm not 30 so I don't have all my points yet. That said, I put enough into Offense to take Burning Embers and Archaic knowledge. Going a full 21/9/0 or 9/21/0 is unnecessary IMHO. I'll probably do 10/20/0 or something similarly random that everyone will call me an idiot for. Mordekaiser doesn't need that 21st point.
Summoner AbilitiesIgnite (http://www.leaguecraft.com/spell/Ignite) - Because Ignite + Children of the Grave will murder runners and primary targets... 4%/second health drain + healing reduction and 500 damage over time means you just earned yourself a rockin pet.Flash (http://www.leaguecraft.com/spell/Flash) - Mordekaiser has no CC and he can't run. That said, the Metal Dynamo doesn't run. Why take Flash then? So you can jump on your target with Creeping Death running, and slap them with Mace of Spades and Siphon of Destruction.

Skilling OrderR > E > W > Q

"But WHY!?!?!", you scream. "I want to hit like Poppy/Gangplank/Nasus x3!" Shut the hell up. Poppy isn't metal. Go blow your blue load elsewhere. This isn't a guide to frontloading damage. Mordekaiser's Mace of Spades is a good attack, don't get me wrong, but it pales compared to the utility of Siphon of Destruction and Creeping Death. For every unit that Siphon of Destruction hits, your shield gains 24 health... that's ON TOP of the 20% boost it gets from the damage you cause. A fully ranked Siphon with just a smidgen of AP and Magic Penetration does 300+ damage to minions... that's 60 shield health + 24 bonus health per hit. 84 x 5 hits = 420 shield health. One use of Siphon of Destruction has the potential to fill Iron Man when fully ranked all the way through level 18. It is your best pushing/farming/harassing ability AND your best defensive ability. NEVER enter combat without popping Siphon on a group of minions and filling your shield.

Creeping Death comes second because, well... again, it's freaking metal. Drop a few health for a buff that is the equivalent of Aegis of the Legion + 2x Sunfire Capes? Why the hell WOULDN'T you want that leveled ASAP?

Late Game
Buy Warmog's Armor (http://www.leaguecraft.com/item/Warmog%27s%20Armor) or Spirit Visage (http://www.leaguecraft.com/item/Spirit%20Visage) (whichever you didn't get first).

Here's where things TYPICALLY diverge for me. At this point, if I'm up against a lot of Magic Damage I usually go Force of Nature (http://www.leaguecraft.com/item/Force%20of%20Nature). Against heavy melee/physical DPS I pick up a Sunfire Cape (http://www.leaguecraft.com/item/Sunfire%20Cape). Alternatively, a Thornmail (http://www.leaguecraft.com/item/Thornmail) would be appropriate.

LATE LATE GAME
Sell Doran's Shield (http://www.leaguecraft.com/item/Doran%27s%20Shield) and buy Guardian Angel (http://www.leaguecraft.com/item/Guardian%20Angel)

So now you know how to build him... now how do you play him? Simple... be aggressive. You are the baddest MF'ing harasser the League has ever seen. On the first wave, follow your minions in and pop Siphon on all 6 of the first little minions... BOOM, full Shield. Watch a Shaco/Eve/Twitch or some other squishy little wannabe jump out of the bushes and try to gank you... then cackle maniacally as you wail on them with Siphon of Destruction and your BIG MF'ING MACE... the damage you cause constantly refreshing your shield, and your health pool never budging. Zilean double bombing you then running in to try and finish? Watch your shield eat it, then turn on him with Creeping Death up and nail him with another Siphon. Ready for Song 2!

After a few levels you can start jungling whenever appropriate. Everything is fair game... they all fold like tissue paper under the cacophony of your chaotic melodies.

Mid game you should be sticking with your team. By this point you should have Rylai's and some decent hit points, so you CAN initiate, but you need backup. For the first few engagements, the enemy team will likely focus on CC'ing your Alistar and focus firing your squishies, leaving you free to drop all kinds of multi-target mayhem on their heads. By now you should have already Ignited and Ult'd on some squishy primary target. Ranged DPS's are HIGHLY recommended. There's nothing better than taking out a Twitch/Teemo/Trist with a bunch of Bloodthirsters and Black Cleavers to boost your damage... oh, and now you have a ranged pet to harass the living hell out of your enemies with. Drop Creeping Death on your pet and send him at a tower.

If the game actually goes beyond 25 minutes and your enemies haven't surrendered, chances are they're onto you, and they're gonna start trying to tack retribution out on your shiny metal ass. Luckily for you you're totally fed, have 4k HP, 150-250 AR/MR, ridiculous HP regen and just enough CDR to spam your shield up, all the while beating down your opponents both physically and mentally. Nothing is more disparaging than a spikey Metal God who's harder to take down than an Ult'd Alistar.

Creep Jungling Once you have Rank 2 Siphon and Rank 1 Creeping Death, jungling should be a breeze, but Mordekaiser is a pusher, a harasser, a farmer, and a tank. Only jungle when appropriate. You are at your best when surrounded by your teammates.

Working in the team Always make sure your shield is charged. If you are the main tank, do not initiate unless it's full. Drop Siphon and Creeping Death whenever they are up even if you are on the verge of death. You'll get twice as much shield as you'll lose health out of a good Siphon or even running through minions with Creeping Death up, and with your god-like HP regen... who cares about a few HP points anyway? My shield constantly saves my life. Laughing at the enemy as you get away with an EMPTY health bar and a half full shield bar is beyond satisfying, and it makes the enemy team respect your tankiness.

Use Creeping Death strategically. Is someone else on your team the primary tank? Drop Creeping Death on them as they engage. Drop Creeping death on Melee DPSers like Yi/Trynd/Udry to give them a free 80dps boost, all the while filling YOUR SHIELD.

Siphon until you see a good opportunity to drop your Ult + Ignite. Your Ult's lifesteal is only 10% of it's brilliance! What you're after is the pet! As I said earlier, look for opportunities to pick up a ranged pet. Twitch, Trist, Corki, Ashe and Sivir should be primary targets for Children of the Grave. Yi, Trynd, Udyr, DPS Sion and DPS Jax are secondary targets. Big AP stackers come next. Your pets can only auto-attack, so keep that in mind when picking targets.

JUKE!!! Don't stop moving. Always try to be in position to hit as many people as possible with Siphon. Your auto-attack won't be contributing much to the fight. In fact, try smacking an alternate target next to your primary target with Mace of Spades for the bigger, badder, echo!

This is a really nice guide, especially since this is already about how I play Mord (although I've made the mistake of prioritizing Mace of Spades b/c it worked so well against bots. Doh.) I've got one question: when do you grab the first level of Mace Of Spades?

I'd personally make sure that I've got all of his abilities with the first three levels, since more abilities = more shield.

Thanks, nice guide.
So far I've found Mord to be a surprisingly versatile and fun champ, quite glad I picked him up.

So far I've tried separate AD focused and AS+dodge focused builds. Still working on the second one - 50% dodge + shield + warmogs sounds pretty survivable in theory right....? In game it worked out decently as well, but it didn't run long enough for me to grab the second Phant .

I've found the flow of my game is a lot like my Amu (my favorite & most played hero, although I think Mord will give him a run for his RP), although stronger. By this I mean that you might luck out and get some early kills, but for the most part I'm weaker pre level 9 or so. I play it 60/40 def/off then, by about mid game I'm able to start destroying other heroes. And they always have such surprised looks on their corpses....

Haha, "Smooth Up In Ya (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obgDJazEftU)", really? I don't think Mordekaiser is the hair band type. That title would be more appropriate for a Taric guide.

The problem I have with this guide is one I have with most "pure tank" guides - what reason does your enemy have to focus you? You have no CC at all, you can't disrupt a fight like Alistar, Malphite or Rammus. You are a stack of unkillable HP that does no damage, why would anyone hit you?

Wouldn't it be better to beef up your AD so you can sustain your shield better with Q and actually do damage when you hit people? Not being facetious, I've never played Mord so I'm actually curious.

Haha, "Smooth Up In Ya (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obgDJazEftU)", really? I don't think Mordekaiser is the hair band type. That title would be more appropriate for a Taric guide.

The problem I have with this guide is one I have with most "pure tank" guides - what reason does your enemy have to focus you? You have no CC at all, you can't disrupt a fight like Alistar, Malphite or Rammus. You are a stack of unkillable HP that does no damage, why would anyone hit you?

Wouldn't it be better to beef up your AD so you can sustain your shield better with Q and actually do damage when you hit people? Not being facetious, I've never played Mord so I'm actually curious.

Haha... the "Smooth Up In Ya" reference is sort of an inside joke with some guys I queue with. But you're right... Mordekaiser isn't really "hairband".

I typically have the same problem with pure tank builds. Nasus use to be my main (probably getting replaced by Morde), and despite running around with 200+ AR/MR on him most games I still took 2 BF Swords (in addition to Sheen) and upgraded them if the game went long. A hard tank that can rival CritPlank numbers thanks to seriously buffed Siphoning Strikes is fearsome.

THAT SAID, with this build I have been in the top 3 for total damage output every game I play. Yes that is easy to buff with minion kills, but I rarely top that stat as I have no travel powers and I don't clear lanes unless I'm already IN that lane when it's getting pushed. There is always someone else on my team who can quickly clear a lane. In addition, I have carried my team every game thus far. Don't ask me how it works... I hardly know myself. I attribute my damage output to very low ability cooldowns. A 4 second Siphon is pretty nasty and even though mine only hits for ~300, that is plenty of hurt to put on a Yi or Rhyze or some other squishy. Not to mention you have your Q to follow up, all the while draining 4% of their health and chewing them up with Creeping Death and Ignite. It also isn't uncommon for me to get multikills. My final game last night I got a triple kill thanks to taking out an enemy DPS with my Ult and then focus firing the rest of them with my Soul Pet. THAT is what makes Mordekaiser worth dropping. If someone on your team goes down with his Ult... you are now in a 4v6 match. GG.

I approve of this. This is how I've been playing so far as well. I've tried a few different ways and I do best with this. Everytime I go this route (ie focusing on leveling up siphon and the same basic items) I do pretty well. When I deviate too far, I tend to get rocked.

Quote:

SkepticalMind:

Haha, "Smooth Up In Ya (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obgDJazEftU)", really? I don't think Mordekaiser is the hair band type. That title would be more appropriate for a Taric guide.

The problem I have with this guide is one I have with most "pure tank" guides - what reason does your enemy have to focus you? You have no CC at all, you can't disrupt a fight like Alistar, Malphite or Rammus. You are a stack of unkillable HP that does no damage, why would anyone hit you?

Wouldn't it be better to beef up your AD so you can sustain your shield better with Q and actually do damage when you hit people? Not being facetious, I've never played Mord so I'm actually curious.

That is the point of the Rylai's. It gives a slow on all of his abilities. It also slows for the duration of his ult, which can be key to bringing someone down. It's true he has no natural CC, so this is about the best you can do to give him some. Mord's abilities are on a fairly short cool down already. When you add cooldown runes + spirit visage it just gets better. I have also tried to add brutalizer/frozen heart in addition to spirit visage, but have mixed feelings about them (i don't really melee as much as spam abilities, and the mana portion of frozen costs 975... thats a lot for something completely useless).

So basically you can spam a slow on everyone, consistently. You also do a fair amount of damage, so you make them target you that way. The whole point of being a tank is to force the other team to deal with you, and so soak up as much damage as you can while your team attacks. Tanks like alistar force the other team to deal with him or back off, because of the pulverize/headbutt combo. Mord forces them to deal with him because he will hurt them if they don't. But still, at this point, I don't feel like he is a primary tank. I feel like he is a secondary tank similar to a tank nasus build.

Also, most tanks have an ability to keep someone in a fight that doesn't want to be in one. Like rammus' taunt, any of the popup stuns, blitz' pull grab, etc. Mord doesn't have one. But what he can do is ignite/ult on a fleeing carry. There is a good chance that they were damaged enough so that that combo finishes them off.

Oh and conversely to this guide,

I have been thinking a life steal build might be the way to go. I haven't found a way to go about it yet, as I said before, I keep coming back to a build similar to this. However, the theory of life stealing is that you can try to regain hp through life steal faster than they can take it. Well someone like Yi can dps it out. Mord can't really do that. But what he can do, is throw up a shield... while they are knocking the shield down, he is life stealing his real hp up. I haven't been able to make it work yet. I think its because I want to spam abilities and Mace of Spades doesn't add to the life steal, even though its a melee attack. I think that is what the deal breaker is right there. You want to spam abilities to keep your shield up as best as you can, and Mace of Spades takes place of a regular melee hit and thus, one of your life steal hits. You need that to give you lifesteal hp too and it doesn't.

EDIT:

OH and one final point. I have been trying a 21/0/9 mastery build. I haven't has as much success as I did with a 9/21/0 build. I think the initial extra HP in the beginning and the damage reductions are quite nice for a more tanky build. I initially though going damage would be better because you could keep his shield up easier (plus a point in rally and ignite). But I'm finding I can keep his shield up just fine without the additional damages. Also, without going a true melee route, a lot of the points are wasted.

only thing I may suggest is probably going 21/9/0 masteries as the last point in the offensive would help your damage on E and Q, technically (to support the build). I never really run the numbers but does the damage removed from your shield factor in armor/mag resist first? if so I agree with runes. I had been running him as 0/9/21 with dodge runes, and flash + ghost. About the numbers again, I don't know why, but Doran's shield just seems so much better than regrowth pen first. I sometimes go regrowth so I dont have to sell an item later.

You're currently listed as 10/20/0 for your masteries. Do you really feel that 10 AP some of the time is worth more than 4% damage reduction? 10 AP gives you 1 damage per second on your Creeping Death, 2.5 damage on your Siphon, and 1/20th of a percentage point on his drain (so against a standard opponent with about 2000 health, it will do 10 extra damage per second). And since Ignite is generally used to seal the deal, you're probably only getting the bonus damage on your Siphon, which is likely going to translate to no more than 60 total damage. Is that worth losing 4% damage reduction?